Steve Richards of Eastern Oregon Development LLC has submitted an application to rezone a portion of property abutting N First St (Highway 395) and NE 4th Street and located north of Wal-Mart.  The applicant has entered into a purchase agreement with the property owner contingent upon approval of the rezoning.  Should the rezoning be approved, the applicant intends to submit a conditional use application to construct mini-storage units on the property.  The property is described as the east 5 acres of 4N 28 02C Tax Lot 212 and is currently zoned Outlying Commercial (C-2).  The property is owned by John Schnell.

Changes to the zoning map are considered quasi-judicial land use actions as they have an impact on a specific site and do not have widespread and significant impact beyond the immediate area of the proposed amendment.  When considering an amendment to the zoning map, the City must consider four criteria, as well as how the proposal complies with the statewide planning goals.  The four criteria applicable to the proposal are contained in 157.226 of the Hermiston Code of Ordinances and are as follows:

1. The change is in conformance with the Comprehensive Plan and also the goals and policies of the plan;
2. The showing of public need for the rezoning and whether that public need is best served by changing the zoning classification on that property under consideration;
3. The public need is best served by changing the classification of the subject site in question as compared with other available property.
4. The potential impact upon the area resulting from the change has been considered.

The city worked with the applicant in 2017 to create the NCO zoning under consideration here to create a commercial overlay which would allow mini-storage and multi-family uses in the C-2 zone.  The NCO zone allows these additional uses as conditional uses to allow greater oversight and regulatory control in permitting uses which have the potential to impact the city's supply of retail land.  The application applies the NCO zone to the eastern 5 acre portion of the property abutting NE 4th Street and retains the western 4 acre portion abutting Highway 395 for C-2 development.

The site under consideration is one of the most unique sites in the City's commercial inventory.  It sits adjacent to N First St (Highway 395) along the most heavily traveled section of any street in the city.  Traffic volumes on Highway 395 for the section between Elm Ave and Theater Lane are between 19,300 at Elm and 14,800 at Theater (ODOT Traffic Volume Table, 2017).  The subject property is the largest vacant tract on this half-mile section of highway.  The next largest tract is the Roger's Toyota used car lot at the intersection of N First Street and E Oregon Ave.  This site is partially developed with used car parking, extends along E Oregon Ave to NE North St, and is approximately 2.5 acres in size.  Retail site selectors look for the highest traffic volumes and largest parcel sizes when considering where to site retail outlets.  This site is very constrained with a small frontage on N First St of approximately 40 feet.  This frontage is possible to use for a fully functioning commercial access.  A typical commercial driveway must be at least 36 feet in width. 

The NE 4th Street frontage has considerably lower traffic volumes.  Specific counts are not available for the frontage abutting the east side of the property.  However, ODOT and city studies show approximately 10,938 at Elm and 3,433 at Theater Lane (Hermiston TSP) it can be inferred that there are approximately 7,000 trips along NE 4th Street on an average day.  

The entire south property line of the site is encumbered with an easement for the Hermiston Drain of approximately 100 feet in width and an easement for municipal sewer which is 20 feet in width.  It is possible to work with the Bureau of Reclamation to reduce the width of this easement.  It is also possible to utilize the N First St frontage for access even with the existing easement as long as sufficient protections are taken to ensure the piping for the Hermiston Drain is not damaged.

This property lies within an area that city staff have begun feasibility analysis for potentially creating a second urban renewal district.  As of the date of this report, there is a draft feasibility report from 2017 prepared by Johnson Economics which indicates the area could support an urban renewal district which would be established to construct a new east/west street and signal connecting N First Street and NE 4th Street through the property.  It is the city's contention that utilizing an urban renewal district to construct a new east/west connection and signal will eliminate the constraints on this property and open the entire area for retail development.  

Rezoning is a discretionary process for the city.  When making a recommendation to the city council, the planning commission should consider the criteria applicable to the proposal.  The city council should also consider if the additional uses allowed under the NCO constitute the highest and best use of the property.  

Staff has provided an inventory of available sites for the construction of mini-storage facilities.  According to a preliminary analysis, there are approximately 767 acres of land with the appropriate zoning and an assessed value of improvements of less than $10,000, indicating the property is either vacant or a potential redevelopment site.  Additionally, sites under public ownership or fully developed but with zero assessed value (generally utility sites) have been removed from the inventory.  Based upon the availability of other land with the appropriate zoning and the site under consideration's proximity to Highway 395, staff does not support the application to rezone the property to NCO.  Therefore, the staff recommendation is to maintain the property as it currently sits with C-2 zoning.

Since a denial of the proposed amendment maintains the status quo, the findings detail only the procedural elements of the city’s consideration and the logic for maintaining said status quo.

The planning commission held a public hearing on October 9, 2019 to consider the request for rezoning.  After closing the hearing and deliberating, the planning commission made a unanimous recommendation to the city council that the proposed rezoning be denied and the existing C-2 zoning maintained. 

Subject to the testimony presented during the public hearing and evidence in the record, the city council shall consider the application and make a decision to either accept the planning commission's recommendation to deny the application or approve the application and add the NCO overlay to the eastern 5 acres of the property.

The city council may choose to:

• Approve the rezoning from C-2 to NCO
• Deny the rezoning from C-2 to NCO

Motion to adopt findings of fact 

Motion to deny the rezoning